In the latest sign of the changing strategy for one of the world’s biggest real estate firms, Brookfield Properties has put a high-profile retail building on the market in downtown Los Angeles as it looks to free up capital for other investments with capital markets easing.
Brookfield is marketing for sale FIGat7th, a 330,000-square-foot retail center at 735 S. Figueroa St. The property is anchored by Nordstrom Rack, Sephora, Target and Zara and carries a $59 million loan from MetLife that comes due in 2026.
A sale would mark Brookfield’s most recent prominent downtown disposition in the nation’s second-biggest city as industrywide financing shows early signs of thawing, giving buyers easier access to capital and allowing landlords to secure better loan rates. Those stronger financing conditions are encouraging transaction activity after a long slowdown, executives say, creating deals with higher price tags.
“Stronger capital markets have enabled us to lock in refinancings at spreads and all-in rates we couldn’t have achieved even a month ago,” Brookfield President and Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Goodman said on the firm’s third-quarter earnings call. He added that an appetite for acquisitions is returning and likely extending into 2026.
Buyers, sellers and lenders are coming off the sidelines, sending transaction volume up nearly 60% in the past year, according to CoStar research.
“The thaw in financing conditions is a critical catalyst for transaction activity,” said Catherine Yeh, CoStar director of market analytics for Los Angeles. “After nearly two years of muted deal flow, lower spreads and improved liquidity are giving sellers confidence to bring assets to market, particularly those with near-term loan maturities.”
Earlier this year, Brookfield sold the 52-story Figueroa at Wilshire tower to Uncommon Developers for $210 million, or about $201 per square foot, in one of LA’s biggest deals of the year.
Despite those sales, Brookfield remains a major downtown owner, with roughly 785 multifamily units and about 5.7 million square feet of office space in the market, some of which is also up for sale.
Downtown retail landmark
Brookfield Properties acquired the shopping center — then called 7th+Fig — in 2006 as part of its purchase of Trizec Properties, inheriting a key downtown Los Angeles retail space that had lost relevance with shoppers.
The sunken retail complex, built in 1986, was struggling to generate foot traffic amid the rise of e-commerce, according to reports at the time. Brookfield saw an opportunity to reposition the property as a more vibrant, street-oriented downtown destination.
That strategy took shape in 2011, when Brookfield launched a $40 million renovation — then the largest retail investment in downtown Los Angeles in two decades — betting that a modernized center could capitalize on growing residential and office density nearby.
The overhaul focused on improving visibility, access and flow. The center reopened in 2012 as FIGat7th with an open-air, mixed-use design intended to better connect the property to surrounding streets and transit.
Tenant strategy also shifted, with an expanded dining lineup anchored by the TASTE FIGat7th food hall, alongside national apparel and fitness brands aimed at drawing daily foot traffic. Today, the property is about 86% leased, including a Gold’s Gym that recently converted to the EoS banner, though a space once slated for clothing store Mango remains vacant.
The timing of Brookfield’s decision to market the mall comes as downtown Los Angeles retail faces renewed pressure. Retail vacancy in the area has climbed to 10% from 9% a year ago, while average asking rents have slipped 1.3% over the past year, according to CoStar data.
The nationwide retail picture is brighter.
Retail property sales across the U.S. rose 10% year over year to $70 billion, supported by steady demand, tenant diversity and limited new supply, according to CoStar data. In Los Angeles, retail investment volume climbed 25% to $4 billion.
Brookfield shuffles portfolio
Brookfield is directing capital toward newer projects that align with tenant demand.
The firm is developing millions of square feet of logistics space at Menifee Valley Business Park in the Inland Empire, one of the country’s largest speculative industrial developments, according to CoStar research. Brookfield’s residential arm is also drafting an adjacent master-planned community called Heritage Landing, which would add housing and amenities to complement the business park.
Back in downtown LA, the firm is moving ahead with plans to build a 230-unit apartment tower at 949 Hope St. by 2028.
The company’s broader portfolio shuffling accelerated in early 2023, when Brookfield’s Downtown LA Office Fund defaulted on more than $1.1 billion in loans tied to the Gas Company Tower and the 777 Tower. Both skyscrapers entered receivership later that year after Brookfield chose not to continue covering debt service.
Brookfield has since exited additional office assets at steep discounts. In March 2024, it agreed to sell the 777 Tower to Consus Asset Management for about $145 million, roughly half of the property’s $319 million outstanding debt, underscoring the depth of the office value reset.
The firm still holds several major downtown properties, including the 1.8 million-square-foot California Market Center redevelopment in the Arts District. That $170 million project opened in 2022 and is about 50% vacant, according to CoStar data.